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Over the last year, I've been slowly doing more of my own bike maintenance. It started with a simple chain and cassette swap, moved to partial disassembly when I started travelling with my bike, and recently, I've been replacing cables.
As I gradually do more maintenance, I am acquiring the necessary tools and knowledge. Some tasks are simple and others require a few tries to get it right but for the most part, everything has gone well.
The other day while riding, I noticed that when I released the handle for the rear brake, it wasn't returning to the full outward position. Upon further inspection, I realized the brake was still partially closed on the rear wheel. Not good!
My initial diagnosis was faulty cable but the pierced and tattooed fellow at the bike shop suggested I purchase the housing as well. As a side note, is it a requirement that all bike shop mechanics have piercings and tattoos?
Anyway. I purchased the cables and housing but when I thought it through, I realized this was going to be more work than what I had originally planned. A cable replacement is just snaking the cable out, snaking the new one in, cutting the cable and crimping the little metal thingy over the end. Replacing the housing means that I need to remove the arm pad, unwrap the bar, unwrap the housing, blah blah blah... you get the point. More work. But I'm an aspiring bike mechanic sans tattoos and piercings. Ok, that's not true, I have one tattoo -- it's not an mdot.
Since this was going to require more of my time than I had anticipated, I postponed the repair until yesterday afternoon. Other than another torture session with the voodoo doctor, my afternoon was clear.
As planned, I removed the arm pad, unwrapped the bar, and removed the old cable and housing. I used the old pieces to measure the new pieces and I reassembled everything as it was minus wrapping the bar. I tightened the cable in the brake and gave the brake handle a squeeze... (Scooby says: "Ruh Ro!") ...it was still sticking. Hmmm.
I carefully inspected the pieces and everything appeared to be as it should. I noticed the original housing was a little long. I decided that maybe I should remove a little more. I did. It looked much cleaner than it was previously but nothing changed. It was still sticking.
So there I am a bit perplexed. I look at my bike and realize that I've been riding through the rain quite a bit lately and there's a bunch of dirt on it everywhere. I think for a second. I wonder if perhaps the rear brake caliper is just dirty. I give it a squeeze and it seems to work normally but I get the idea that maybe it's a little sticky.
I remove the cable from the brake and I take the bike outside. I squirt a ton of citrus degreaser into the caliper and it pops open. (Ah ha!) I give the caliper a thorough cleaning and take it back into the garage for reassembly. Everything works great.
Now feeling a little silly, I realize I went through that entire process for nothing when I could've just cleaned my bike. Yes, clean it. The thought is a little foreign to me.
I did learn how to replace a brake cable and housing though so I guess it wasn't a total waste of time. :)
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